The present invention relates to a plant harvesting machine, and especially to a machine for pulling tomato plants from the earth and cleaning the roots and packing the plants in containers.
In the past, a great variety of havesting machines have been provided for harvesting all types of crops, working on a great variety of principles. One common type of vegetable harvestor includes machines for harvesting celery and the like, by pulling the plants from the earth and placing the pulled plants in containers for later processing. Many of these harvesting machines utilize a pair of parallel belts for gripping and conveying the plants being harvested and one such apparatus would harvest small pine trees for replanting at a later time. It has also been suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,024 to harvest tomato plants utilizing rotating belts for pulling tomato plants in addition to oscillatory blades for cleaning the roots of the plants while they are being conveyed. The present invention endeavors to overcome some of the disadvantages of the prior patents in the development of a machine designed primarily for harvesting and immediately packaging small tomato plants for replanting. The plants now are planted in rows in fields where they are grown to a predetermined size and then pulled up with the roots and packed in small bundles for sale. For instance, plants can be grown from seeds in a warm climate and packed and shipped further north after the climate gets warm enough for growing tomatoes thereby assuring an earlier crop in areas with more limited growing seasons.
The present invention more fully automates harvesting machines utilizing parallel running endless belts for gripping and conveying plants pulled from the earth by providing a more automated boxing system in which large groups of plants are continuously packed until the container is filled, at which time the container shifts out of the way, shifting a second container in place to receive the plants. The first container can thereby be unloaded into boxes of predetermined shapes for immediate transfer in the field to transport and shipping facilities, thus significantly reducing handling requirements.